Thanks for all the kind words thusfar on the site’s new look. I spent a lot of time on it… it feels good trimming the fat (can you spot what’s gone?) and though there’s still work to be done, I’m pleased with how it’s going. I still plan on writing up a bit about the site design and the changes, but I haven’t had a chance to yet. Shortly.

I had a dream the other night that I hung out with Mena and Ben and talked about Movable Type. This is why I haven’t blogged in a few days.

I also had a dream last night where someone was telling me that they didn’t mind that I am slow in posting reviews on the UA Journal. My subconscious is trying to tell me that being a slack-ass is OK.

This weekend marks the five-year anniversary at my job. It’s a little scary to hit this milestone since I often think, “There’s no way it’s been five years since I graduated college.” At the same time, it’s more than a bit comforting to know that in an economic climate like the one we’ve been in, the company I’ve been with since finishing school has maintained, stayed in business, and kept me on board. Honestly, when I started the job, I expected to work there for maybe three years and then I’d be ready to move the hell out of Virginia. I still hope to move north in the near future, but those plans have been put on hold a bit. It’s OK, as I need the extra time to convince Huyen that, no, she doesn’t want to move further south and that, no, our winters really should be longer and colder.

Best wishes to the Poofles on their wedding this weekend. Here’s to hoping that Mike doesn’t embarrass Nikole too much on their wedding day. Remember, Mike, discussing how funny poop is is not an appropriate way to break the ice with members of Nikole’s extended family.

Just over six hours left in the Blogathon. Though a hundred or more folks have dropped out since the beginning (some with good reasons, but most are just lightweights!), over 400 bloggers are still going strong. I’ve barely written here at all today, but there were points today where I was pretty busy. For the last few hours I’ve been posting periodically to the front page of Blogathon.org highlighting some of the interesting stuff going on around the ‘thon.

I’ve taken a few short cat naps today, but the real props have to go to Huyen who drove to Roanoke this morning for a wedding (congrats Erika!) and then drove back tonight… that’s four hours each direction. And she’s still awake (see her in the background of the webcam?). Pretty impressive.

College friend Dave stopped by for a little while today. Last year Rodeo Rob was the visitor in-the-house.

There have been some good (but grainy) webcam shots today. There’s this series of five I’ll have to post later… really funny.

So… how do you like the site redesign? Arquay pointed out some early bugs in the code that I hadn’t seen, but everything seems to be smoothed out on that front. A lot of the stuff on the site still has to be converted over to the new format, but I expect to be done by the time the weekend’s over. I’m really pleased with this redesign. I’ll be writing up a more details overview of the redesign later Sunday night.

Chris pointed out Mike’s Movie Rules, one guy’s personal filters that determine which movies he will or won’t watch. You know, like “No romantic movie starring the same stars of another romantic movie” or “No movies with women running in wedding dresses.” Here are a few of my own movie rules…

Last Friday’s trip to Richmond for the Easy Star presentation of Dub Side of the Moon was a blast. I stopped off in Fredericksburg to pick up some cash at the VA Credit Union ATM. I use my VACU account as my “main” account and do a lot of electronic transfers and such from it, but I don’ t use the ATM all that frequently anymore. So I walk onto the MWC campus—forgetting until I get on campus that it’s not going to be packed with students since everyone’s home for the summer—and stood in front of the VACU ATM with a blank stare on my face. After nine years of having this account, using the ATM frequently through college and occasionally afterwords, I’ve totally blanked on my PIN. I’ll be damned if I still can’t remember it. I ended up going to Giant and charging a Pepsi on my Discover card so I could get some cash back.

I also bought a Quiznos sub. Very mediocre. They toast their bread, so what?

Oh yeah, I also dialed home on my cell phone and thought I hung up when voice mail picked up. Turns out I left us a 15-minute message of me walking around with my cell in my pocket. An MP3 will be posted for your enjoyment.

I met up with Robert before the show and we caught up while we waited for the soundcheck to finish. I also got to chat with Lem (from Easy Star), who I hadn’t seen in close to four years. He introduced me to Dave from Dub is a Weapon who was working the sound board that night. The show itself was rocking, with the Easy Star crew doing one set of straight reggae and one set of Dub Side of the Moon. I got a great recording thanks to the many tapers there, even though I did knock a power cord loose from the main board, killing the horns’ mics for 10 seconds. Big up to Easy Star (especially Lem and Michael G) for a great show, even if the crowd was small. I may post a couple MP3s from the show if I can get permission.

There’s something about seeing a good live show… when it’s really good, it sticks with you for days and can brighten up an entire weekend, even if getting home at 5am does ruin your sleep schedule for a while.